Ill-Won Prize Money Hard To Reclaim

In the aftermath of cases like Christian Hesch's eventual confession of using performance-enhancing drugs, a common thought is that the athlete will pay back, to races and runners he or she beat, prize money won while doping. But reclaiming money fraudulently won isn't as easy as many would hope.

Start by considering the matter from the perspective of the race. Before he stopped racing because of an investigation by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, Hesch won the Rock 'n' Roll Providence Half Marathon on August 19. The first-place prize there was $1,000. Tracy Sundlun, senior vice president of events for Competitor Group, which puts on the Rock 'n' Roll series, says he's unsure whether Hesch will pay back that money.

"You have to let the process work itself out," Sundlun, speaking about an official sanction against Hesch by USADA, told Runner's World Newswire. "While waiting for USADA, one thing we can do immediately is elevate those who finished behind him from a financial standpoint, even if that means we ultimately 'pay double.'" Competitor has announced it will pay extra prize money to the top finishers at Providence and other Competitor events Hesch won money at since August 2010, when Hesch claims to have started doping.

Sundlun said that if USADA sanctions include stripping the athlete of prize-money winnings, "now you go and try to get it back. In some cases, that's relatively easy, and in some cases it's relatively difficult. Sometimes it's not there to be gotten."

In the case of Hesch, Sundlun said, "Once he got over the hump of coming to grips with what he'd done, he's been very open and apologetic about everything, and I would expect he would do everything in his power to make it as right as possible for everyone involved as soon as possible. I assume when we get wind of an official sanction from USADA, I'll call Christian and say, 'Please send us a check as soon as possible.' What's the worst that he can say? 'I don't have it' or 'Can we work out a payment plan?'"

Sundlun added, "Would we launch a legal campaign to go after it that's going to cost more than he won? That would be illogical." In the case of convicted doper Eddy Hellebuyck, who also won money at races Sundlun organized, "I never chased that," Sundlun said. "It was many years after the fact."

It's even less likely that runners beaten by dopers can get money directly from cheating athletes, Alan Leff, an attorney and runner, told Runner's World Newswire.

Leff currently practices in Pennsylvania, and has worked as a law clerk in New Jersey. He said that, in cases with prize money of the amounts Hesch typically won, small claims court would be the venue in which to seek restitution; such courts in New Jersey have an upper jurisdictional limit of $3,000. Leff described a hypothetical case in which Hesch had won a prize-money race in New Jersey, and the second-place finisher tried to get the first-place purse from Hesch.

"Most likely, you'd go after him for breach of contract," Leff said. The contract in this case is the race flyer or other organizational documents, with each registrant being in a contract with the race. "Even though you don't have a contract with Hesch, you could argue as an aggrieved party to the contract" Hesch had with the race, Leff said.

Logistically, the aggrieved runner would most likely file to have the case heard in the county in which the race was held. (Again, this is for a hypothetical race in New Jersey; small claims court rules vary by state.) The runner would serve Hesch notice that the case had been filed. In New Jersey, for an out-of-state defendant like Hesch, a resident of California, the notice would be sent via certified mail, with return receipt requested.

If the court agreed to hear the case, "I'd put your likelihood of success at 50 percent or under," Leff said.

"Is it implicit that you can't do drugs?" Leff said. "To the judge, it's not like Major League Baseball, with codified rules. Your contract is based on the race flyer. If the flyer doesn't say the race follows USADA rules, to the judge, it might be illegal to use [performance-enhancing] drugs, but I don't know that invalidates the contract.

"In New Jersey, I would argue fraud, that his doping invalidates his result, regardless of whether it's explicitly stated in the race flyer" that the race follows USADA guidelines, Leff said. "And Hesch's statement that he used drugs could be used against him."

But the case still might not go the aggrieved runner's way, Leff said.

"Hesch could say, 'I denied using during races,'" Leff said. "At this point the judge is probably not going to want to hear this case anymore. He's got a crowded docket. He might throw it out.

"Judges in smalls claims courts have vast discretion over the case outcomes and can only devote a very limited amount of time to each case," Leff said. "The opportunity for a full hearing is simply not realistic for this type of scenario."

Leff said that even a judgment in the aggrieved runner's favor doesn't mean the cheater would have to pay back the prize money.

"There's not an ATM at the court that pays out the judgment," he said. "All you have is a piece of paper. In this case, he doesn't have any assets in New Jersey you can go after. You might have to contact a lawyer in California to get a claim on his assets," which would likely cost at least as much as the difference in prize money between first and second place.

Leff said that if such an aggrieved runner asked his advice, "I would say go through with it only if you want to stick it to him just for the satisfaction. If I'm the guy who got second behind Hesch and I won judgment, I'd have my piece of paper and I'd pin it to the wall."

Scott DouglasScott is a veteran running, fitness, and health journalist who has held senior editorial positions at Runner’s World and Running Times.

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